Introduction
Crimes have always been present in the life of mankind. Robberies, murders, and other types of violence were at different times and different punishments were provided. The type of punishment depended on the level of crime. The modern system of punishment is governed by laws and also is based on the level of cruelty and the type of crime. The most minor type of crime is robbery or disorderly conduct and the most significant is murder. Different countries have different laws and as a result different punishments for the crimes, but the death penalty is considered to be the highest type of sentence in all countries. The death penalty in the USA exists in some states, and it must be to discipline people and to threaten them from murders and other great crimes.
Death penalty in the modern world
The death penalty is the killing of a person which is allowed by the law and is commonly used as the punishment for, especially terrible crimes. The death penalty in the modern world usually precedes the long court trial on different levels, and the accused has the opportunity to appeal. Different causes and situations, new facts, and other issues may drag out the pronouncement of a sentence and then its execution for many years. It is impossible to avoid the case with Jack Alderman, who is famous for his being the longest prisoner in the USA. His story began on June 14, 1975, when he was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, and only on September 16, the last 2008 year, the sentence was executed. Simple mathematics calculations give us the result that 33 years the person was waiting for his punishment.
The death penalty may be provided only by the authorized representative of the law, in another way it is considered murder and may be punished. The death penalty is provided nonpublic, this means that only several authorized people may be present on the penalty. The death penalty was abolished in most countries, but still some countries refuse to cancel this law and continue to provide this punishment for the highest level of crime.
People are afraid of death and it is impossible to deny it. The governments of the countries where the death penalty exist say that capital punishment is the controlling factor for people, as the threat of death interferes and people do not make mistakes which may be the paid a too high price. Some criminals think before doing this or that action and the existence of the death penalty may prevent them, as life is the biggest gift for a person and nobody wants to refuse it.
Any subject has at least two points of view and in most cases they are opposite. The same deals with the death penalty, there are supporters of it and those who think that it is inhuman and try to convince that the death penalty should be forbidden all over the world. The arguments are given various from the contending parties. It is possible to give a lot of examples, which could support this or that part and these arguments are absolutely convincing.
Supporters
First, the supporting facts about the death penalty are going to be considered. Let us try to imagine the situation, when a person wakes up in the morning, do all he/she has used to do, and then decides to kill someone, a person whom he/she does not like. The operation is planned and in several days, the person kills. Is this person is worthy of life? Does he/she have any moral right to live while the person was killed? The planned and realized murders must be punished. The other situation: drunk driver kills a child. Whose fault is it? The driver’s as the drunken person in the car is the murderer. Shall he/she live? Des, this person has the right to live? No! Even life imprisonment is not the punishment for such people as they have made a mistake which is impossible to correct, as nobody can raise people from the dead.
Opponents
The opponents of the death penalty state that life was given for us by God and it is only his desire and right to decide whether the killer should live or die. Life imprisonment is the deserving substitution to the death penalty, as the opponents of capital punishment think, as the absence of life makes people crazy, the understanding that the rest of life is going to be spent in the same walls with the same people, it is really difficult. People, sentenced to life imprisonment, very often finish by suicide and it is the considered God’s punishment for the crimes which these people had committed. People should not become murderers even permitted by the state law, as God’s laws are different and the Bible says to us, “Do not kill”, as killing, even the murderer, the person also becomes the murderer, which contradicts God’s laws. These were the arguments of those who are the opponents of the death penalty and offer life imprisonment instead.
Death penalty and the life imprisonment
Returning to the difference between the death penalty and life imprisonment, it is possible to mention that life imprisonment is considered to be the hardest as a person has no freedom till the end of his/her life, and the death penalty is easier. Let me deny this opinion. Death is a horrible thing people and a lot of people are really afraid of it as they do not know what is there, in that part of existence. The religious pictures of hell and devil appear in the mind, and it is difficult for most people to live those 2 – 10 hours to the death penalty. Life imprisonment is easier as the person knows that he/she will live, that even without freedom, he/she will be able to breathe, eat and to drink, to have some fan (reading or other playing activities), he/she will see the sun even through the gates, but still, he/she will be alive, and people who were killed by them will never have such opportunity.
The conclusions may be made different by different people, as people’s minds may offer a lot of additional arguments to support this or that idea, and my strong opinion is that the death penalty must be present in the society, but at the same time the society should possess the power and justice court system. It is not a secret that the modern court system is not so perfect and that there are some cases when the innocent person was sentenced to different years of imprisonment. The additional investigations, facts, and witnesses helped to disentangle the case and people were released. In this case, if the death penalty was executed, there would have not been a way back. So, before implementing the death penalty, a lot of facts should be gathered and thorough investigations should be provided to prove whether the person is guilty or not.
The USA is the one country, but the laws are different in different states that allow criminals to hide from the death penalty in the state where it is forbidden. The death penalty is allowed in 38 states of the USA. To my mind, it should not be so, as such fundamental laws about the death penalty should be the same within one country. There are a lot of ways of capital punishment which were used in the USA at different times, the ancient types are as follows, burning, slow slicing, stoning, boiling, flaying, disembowelment, impalement, crucifixion, crushing, dismemberment, sawing, or decapitation. All these types of punishment are historical and are not used in the modern world. The modern types of capital punishment which is used in the world, and the USA, are hanging, shooting, electrical chair, gas chamber, or injection. The most human type of the death penalty (no matter how paradoxically it may sound) remains the death injection, which is considered to be the easiest type of death.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the opinions about the death penalty are different, some people support it, the others do not. A good example of opinion sharpening is the USA, where within one country different states have different laws about capital punishment. My strong opinion is that the death penalty must be part of the jurisdictional system of the country as there are some crimes which impossible to penalize by any of the existing punishments, except the death penalty. People should know that by killing a person, he/she will also be killed and that there would not be a way back.